The field of the invention is collapsible furniture.
Folding chairs have been known for many years, if not centuries. The distinguishing feature of this invention is that the chair can be manipulated between a closed position in which the back is pivoted to approximate the seat, and an open position in which the back is disposed more or less perpendicular to the seat.
More recently collapsible chairs have gained widespread attention. Collapsible chairs are different from folding chairs in that the legs can be manipulated to approximate each other in close parallel or substantially parallel relationship. Thus, the legs come together in both a front to back direction as well as a side-to-side motion. The back may optionally fold against the seat, but the action is not necessarily included in collapsible chairs. U.S. Pat. No. 3,124,387 to Maclaren (March 1964) depicts an early collapsible chair in which the seat and back are formed from a continuous piece of fabric. These are so-called sling type chairs. There have been many other designs over the years, including hinged lawn chairs such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,650 to Berman et al. (December 1987), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,950 to Mann (October 1991).
Approximating the legs, seat frame, and back is a relatively complicated business, primarily because the seat is more or less perpendicular to both the legs and back. Reclining the backrest relative to the seat add yet additional complexity, and may not be known to exist in any fashion in collapsible chairs. In this respect it must be observed that the term xe2x80x9crecliningxe2x80x9d is used herein to mean that the backrest can vary at least 10 degrees among a plurality of significantly different angles of inclination while the chair is in a sitting configuration.
Thus, there is a continuing need to provide novel methods and apparatus for collapsible chairs having a reclining backrest
The present invention provides methods and apparatus in which a collapsible chair has a back that reclines relative to the seat by at least 10 degrees while the chair is in a sitting configuration. The reclining motion is preferably substantially continuous, rather than being limited to being locked in four or five preset positions.
Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.